Valerie Bates wasn't going to let a closed road keep her from picking up her 4-year-old daughter from a day-care center in Palmdale. She took a plane home. Bates, 32, a computer consultant, was working in Sylmar when she learned, like thousands of others Tuesday, that snow had closed off all routes to the Antelope Valley. "I panicked," Bates said Wednesday. "I called the school and spoke to my daughter. She was upset.

The City Council unanimously voted to shut down the Chief Motel, considered a thorn by residents who banded together last year to close the business down. The motel's closure, recommended by the Planning Commission in February, was appealed by Yung-Chen Lin, who has owned the Bixby Knolls business since 1982. But on Tuesday night, the council decided to revoke Lin's business license and conditional-use permit.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, faced with the prospect of drastically cutting mental health services, Tuesday took the first step in trying to offset the cuts with $8 million in new taxes on utilities and motel and hotel rooms. In addition, the supervisors decided to ask the county's municipalities for another $30 million to bolster county-run health and mental health programs, but less than two hours after the meeting, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley sharply rejected the request.

The City Council tonight is expected to close the Chief Motel, which has been cited as a neighborhood nuisance after several drug and prostitution arrests were made. The Planning Commission recommended in February that the motel be closed. Owner Yung-Chen Lin has appealed the recommendation. From July 1, 1995 to July 31, 1997, there were 28 reported crimes at the motel at 3932 Long Beach Blvd. in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood.

In grainy postcards from the 1930s, the Chief Motel was touted as "the Pride of Long Beach," where tourists vacationed in southern Los Angeles County to frolic on the wide, never-ending beaches. Today, this stucco building, with its turquoise-topped turrets and quaint pre-World War II look, is the temporary home for what community leaders describe as a revolving door of robbers, rapists, drug addicts, derelicts, wife beaters and other dregs of modern society.

A fumigation company employee making his way through the Vagabond Inn on Saturday discovered the body of a 37-year-old man on the motel's second floor, police said. The dead man, believed to be a transient, has not yet been identified, said Sgt. Tom Murrell of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Valley Division.

The Long Beach Planning Commission has voted 5 to 0 to close the Chief Motel by revoking its business license and nonconforming-use permit. The motel has a history of problems caused by its transient tenants, including drug addicts and others allegedly involved in criminal activity. Bud Sinclair, president of the Bixby Knolls Neighborhood Action Committee, which mounted a seven-month campaign to close the motel on Long Beach Boulevard, was delighted by the commission's ruling Thursday.

Threatened with a lawsuit by MCA Inc., owner of Universal Studios Hollywood, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed to Jan. 8 its vote on a 2% tax on amusement park receipts to generate money for county mental health programs. But the board approved ordinances for unincorporated areas of the county, increasing the hotel and motel occupancy tax from 10% to 12% and imposing a 5% tax on users of gas, electric and telephone utilities. Both take effect Jan. 1.

People left homeless by a fire that swept through a West Covina apartment complex last weekend can receive vouchers to stay at two motels until permanent housing can be found. The Red Cross has arranged for displaced residents to stay at the El Dorado Motor Inn, 140 N. Azusa Ave., and the Executive Lodge, 1333 W. Garvey Ave. So far, 39 people have received the vouchers. Residents may apply for vouchers for food, clothing and lodging between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The City Council unanimously voted to shut down the Chief Motel, considered a thorn by residents who banded together last year to close the business down. The motel's closure, recommended by the Planning Commission in February, was appealed by Yung-Chen Lin, who has owned the Bixby Knolls business since 1982. But on Tuesday night, the council decided to revoke Lin's business license and conditional-use permit.

The Long Beach Planning Commission has voted 5 to 0 to close the Chief Motel by revoking its business license and nonconforming-use permit. The motel has a history of problems caused by its transient tenants, including drug addicts and others allegedly involved in criminal activity. Bud Sinclair, president of the Bixby Knolls Neighborhood Action Committee, which mounted a seven-month campaign to close the motel on Long Beach Boulevard, was delighted by the commission's ruling Thursday.

In grainy postcards from the 1930s, the Chief Motel was touted as "the Pride of Long Beach," where tourists vacationed in southern Los Angeles County to frolic on the wide, never-ending beaches. Today, this stucco building, with its turquoise-topped turrets and quaint pre-World War II look, is the temporary home for what community leaders describe as a revolving door of robbers, rapists, drug addicts, derelicts, wife beaters and other dregs of modern society.

A fumigation company employee making his way through the Vagabond Inn on Saturday discovered the body of a 37-year-old man on the motel's second floor, police said. The dead man, believed to be a transient, has not yet been identified, said Sgt. Tom Murrell of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Valley Division.

With a thousand-yard stare, Diane Haywood gazes past the rusty marquee of the Cloud 9 Motel in Cypress, scoffing at the sign's metallic, cartoon-like cloud turned neon nest for a family of pigeons. "Ha! This joint ain't no Cloud Nine, that's for sure," she says ruefully. "Cloud Nine means being on Easy Street, someplace like heaven. This place is more Motel Hell."

The Pasadena city prosecutor's office filed a 17-count criminal complaint Wednesday against owners of a low-income motel, citing multiple fire, health and building code violations. The complaint put the city's slumlord ordinance to use for the first time since it became law more than a year ago. The Pasadena Municipal Court case was filed against the Capri Motel at 1559 Lincoln Ave.

Valerie Bates wasn't going to let a closed road keep her from picking up her 4-year-old daughter from a day-care center in Palmdale. She took a plane home. Bates, 32, a computer consultant, was working in Sylmar when she learned, like thousands of others Tuesday, that snow had closed off all routes to the Antelope Valley. "I panicked," Bates said Wednesday. "I called the school and spoke to my daughter. She was upset.

The Pasadena city prosecutor's office filed a 17-count criminal complaint Wednesday against owners of a low-income motel, citing multiple fire, health and building code violations. The complaint put the city's slumlord ordinance to use for the first time since it became law more than a year ago. The Pasadena Municipal Court case was filed against the Capri Motel at 1559 Lincoln Ave.

If there's a dimly lit corner of rock 'n' roll heaven zoned for cheap motels, the faded palms of West Hollywood's late Tropicana will be found somewhere within staggering distance. When the wrecking crews moved in last week to make way for a 178-unit Ramada Inn, they buried a piece of pop history in the tangle of crumbled stucco and broken lath that marks the spot at 8585 Santa Monica Blvd. where the Tropicana Motel once slouched. "I think it's a shame.

Threatened with a lawsuit by MCA Inc., owner of Universal Studios Hollywood, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed to Jan. 8 its vote on a 2% tax on amusement park receipts to generate money for county mental health programs. But the board approved ordinances for unincorporated areas of the county, increasing the hotel and motel occupancy tax from 10% to 12% and imposing a 5% tax on users of gas, electric and telephone utilities. Both take effect Jan. 1.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, faced with the prospect of drastically cutting mental health services, Tuesday took the first step in trying to offset the cuts with $8 million in new taxes on utilities and motel and hotel rooms. In addition, the supervisors decided to ask the county's municipalities for another $30 million to bolster county-run health and mental health programs, but less than two hours after the meeting, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley sharply rejected the request.